The doctoral programme at Molde University College is a three-year full-time programme leading to a doctoral degree (phd) in logistics. The conferral of the doctoral degree in logistics signifies that the candidate has attained expert competence in a major field of study. Candidates usually plan on spending four years, including a 25% workload outside the programme or with teaching duties at the college.

Prerequisites

To be eligible for admittance, you must have an excellent academic record with at least a five-year master-level degree in a relevant field, or equivalent educational qualifications. For applicants with a Norwegian background, an average mark of 2.5 or better (B with the new grades) from the master-level study is needed. Read the detailed rules governing the program.

There is no tuition fee at Molde University College. However, you need to be able to support yourself financially. For Norwegians this means a scholarship from the College (which is advertised when available), a scholarship from the Research Council, or direct financing from a company. The Research Council of Norway has special scholarships for citizens of some countries. In addition, non-Norwegians may of course have support from their own countries. To be given a student visa by the immigration authorities, you need available in a bank acoount NOK 104 080 in the beginning of each academic year. This requirement is automatically satisfied if you are financed by the college or the Research Council. The college will normally add a fourth year for students financed by the Research Council.

With financing in order, the first thing you should do is to determine the research topic you would like to pursue in your work on your thesis. Then you must locate a member of the academic staff of Molde University College who is interested in your topic, qualified as a supervisor and willing to help you. You can do that in several ways. One possibility is to contact the leader of the Doctoral Committee, who will try to help you. If you already know whom you would like as a supervisor, you should get in touch with that person. When you have found a potential supervisor, you and the supervisor should write an application, with emphasis on the research topic and methodology, plus a package of courses and a plan for a stay abroad. This is the major part of your application for admittance. The Doctoral Committee at Molde University College will make the final decision about accepting you as a doctoral student. (If you are employed at the college as "stipendiat", much of this would have had to be done in that process.)

Competence

The overall purpose of the programme is to give the student a deepened and broadened theoretical and methodological knowledge, alongside the experience of having completed a substantial piece of original scientific work.

Study Structure

The general structure is as follows: The study itself takes three years and includes 45 ECTS with courses and similar activities. The rest of the time is allocated to the thesis. Schoolarship holders (stipendiater) will in addition normally have one years of working duties for the college. Doctoral students may take one or two semesters abroad, which may be used for both coursework and work with the thesis.

Courses at master or doctoral level at other (foreign or domestic) universities

You must take some courses from groups 2 and 3, but may drop group 1.

You will normally have one supervisor in Molde plus one or more co-supervisors from elsewhere. These can typically be your foreign host, or a representative for the industry you are financed by or are working for. Other academics may also have this role, depending on your needs. Suggesting co-supervisors is the duty of your main supervisor, and the Doctoral Committee approves them.

About one year before you plan to finish, an evaluation committee will be appointed. The committee has three members, at most one from the college and at least one international. The committee has two major duties: To approve your thesis for its final defense, and to evaluate your defense. As the committee is appointed one year before you plan to finish, it will have the possibility to give you advice so that approval is achieved.